isodo3D Falcon Trophy

On the Abu Dhabi golfing circuit, the Falcon Trophy has long been synonymous with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The Pro-Am tournament serves as supporting competition which precedes the main event. Event organisers wanted smaller versions of the Falcon Trophy to award winners of the curtain raiser tournament and briefed isodo3D with producing 18 quarter size replicas, six for each of the next three tournaments.

The British company found that the most cost effective and non-compromising method was to print the falcon and golf ball, and then hand turn the wooden plinths. A HP 3D Structured Light Scanner Pro S3 was used to scan the trophy and create the data required to print the trophy. Using Malcolm Nicholls' latest SLA technology a master model was printed.

This master model was hand finished and painted to a perfect gloss surface. The 3D printed gloss master was then used as a pattern for soft silicone tooling. Castings were produced in durable polyurethane to simulate ABS from the silicone tools. Once the castings were complete they were sent away for plating using Vacuum metallisation.

While the vacuum metallising process was taking place, the wooden bases were sent to L Squared Lasers in Bedfordshire. Using a highly accurate laser they engraved the logos and tournament sponsors onto each plinth. Once all parts of the project were completed, the trophies were assembled, polished, quality checked and sent out to Abu Dhabi in time for the tournament.

“The Falcon Trophy, originally designed by the renowned silversmith Edward Asprey, has become such an iconic feature of the Championship that we wanted to reward the winners of the annual Pro-Am, played as a curtain raiser to the tournament, with a sub-size replica to be a special memento of the day,” said Peter German, Tournament Director of the Abu Dhabi event. “We approached isodo3D who successfully produced a fantastic and accurate, and importantly reasonably priced, replica – they looked good and the winners loved them.”

John Cousins, isodo3D’s Managing Director, added: “We were keen to achieve the brief and demonstrate how this technology can be used in this way. These trophies represent the very best in golf and we knew that whoever won one, would have been outstanding in their field. It was our challenge to produce a trophy befitting of the achievements of the winners and I definitely think we met the criteria.”